Hiller Aircraft Company was founded in 1942 as Hiller Industries by Stanley Hiller to develop helicopters.A giant helicopter, with a rotor diameter bigger than the length of a football field. It would be capable not only of transporting a Saturn five S-1C first stage to the launch site – but of actually catching it in midair as it fell on a parachute – ready to be reused.
source/image: Escape Velocity
Today on our new space channel, we will be covering one of my favorite, yet unkown, insane plans, an aircraft built to play catch with a moon rocket – the Hillers Air Tug. It was monstrous huge, with a rotor diameter over 400 feet, or 120 meters for our European friends.
source/image: Escape Velocity
This size would have a huge eight of 450,000 pounds (200,000 kilograms) and with his huge rotors, be able to carry 550,000 pounds (250,000 kilograms) – a total, for those playing along at home, with a gross weight of 1 million pounds – impressive ideed. According to Hiller, it was technically not a helicopter but rather a Rotary Wing System for Booster Recovery – but if it looks like a helicopter and goes woom woom woom like a helicopter – then it is, with the added nick name the Air Tug.
Advertisement
When the rocket was fired, the helicopter would take to the skies from a nearby airbase. It would fly to the zone that the booster, the S-1C, would land, and lotier in the area for up to six hours with its large fuel tanks – hovering at around 15,000 to 20,000 feet (4,500–6,000 meters).
When the booster seperated and began its decent,it would deploy a sort of double tandum parachut, the upper section would have a hook. The air tug would approach the decending rocket, and meet it at around 10,000 feet (3,000 meters). At this point the rocket would be descending along a glide path with more forawrd than doward velocity, making it perfect for a intercept by the helicopter.
